he saw it

8:56he saw it. Abraham evidently saw the “my day” of Christ when “the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision” (Genesis 15:1). On that occasion, the Lord had said, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward,” and this was the very first of the great “I am’s” of the Bible. This vision of the Word of the Lord was Christ, of course, in a pre-incarnate theophany.